Tory party chairman: 'I drink beer and I love a game of bingo'

The Conservative party chairman has hit back at criticism of an advert he tweeted celebrating the cuts in bingo tax and beer duty that opponents called "condescending". Grant Shapps told the BBC: "Personally, I drink beer and I love a game of bingo".

On a trip to Carlisle, he told BBC Radio Cumbria: "We can all argue about whether the word should be 'they' or 'us' or whatever.

"Personally, I drink beer and I love a game of bingo so I can't see why on earth they think this is more important than talking the long-term economic future of our country, supporting actually sectors like bingo or the local pubs."

George Osborne's Liberal Democrat deputy in the Treasury joined the chorus of criticism against the Tory bingo advert tweeted by Grant Shapps, saying he thought it was "patronising".

Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander told BBC2's Newsnight:

I thought it was a spoof at first, it's just pretty extraordinary.

It may be our Budget but it's their words, I think it's rather patronising.

Also I think it actually demeans some quite sensible things. There are good reasons to be supporting bingo, there are good reasons to be encouraging our pub sector to be stronger - that's the analysis behind those measures.

Twitter users have been sharing their thoughts on the Budget poster tweeted by Tory party chairman Grant Shapps, when he hailed the bingo and beer tax breaks as "helping hardworking people do more of the things they enjoy".